Kaoss Pad

The Kaoss Pad is a touchpad MIDI controller, sampler, and effects processor for audio and musical instruments, made by Korg.

The Kaoss Pad's touchpad can be used to control its internal effects engine, which can be applied to a line-in signal or to samples recorded from the line-in. Effects types include pitch shifting, distortion, filtering, wah-wah, tremolo, flanging, delay, reverberation, auto-panning, gating, phasing, and ring modulation.

The Kaoss Pad can also be used as a MIDI controller, with the x- and y-axis positions of a finger on its pad being output via a MIDI out connection as two continuous controller streams. The sum of the x and y positions can also be outputted as a third continuous controller stream.

The original model, released in 1999, is the KP1 Kaoss Pad. Korg has since released updated versions of the Kaoss Pad: the KP2, with a number of new features; the KPE1 Kaoss Pad Entrancer, a Kaoss pad that can process both sound and video; and the KP3, which began shipping in October 2006.

In the spring of 2007, Korg released a newer version of the Kaoss Pad, entitled the mini-KP. This new Kaoss Pad was based on the KP3, using many of the same essential elements. As the name suggests, the mini-KP is a smaller size version of its big brother, the KP3. The mini-KP offers 100 effects/programs and two memory banks. It may be powered by 4 AA batteries so that users can fully utilize the portability of the mini-KP. However, the mini-KP does not have MIDI output, and its touchpad does not have a display.

Korg unveiled a new Kaoss Pad, the Kaoss Pad Quad, during Winter NAMM 2011. It is able to process four effects at once, though it does not have MIDI output.